From the guys who gave us 'Fargo,' more Minnesota

Coen brothers coming home for next movie - and state film folks couldn't be happier

For the first time since they shot "Fargo" in Minnesota in winter 1995, Joel and Ethan Coen are scheduled to shoot a movie in their home state. The St. Louis Park natives will film the dark comedy, "A Serious Man," next year in the Twin Cities.

It makes sense they'd shoot here. The Coens have shot every one of their films in the locations where they were set, and "A Serious Man" reportedly is about a Jewish family in the (mostly gentile) Twin Cities in the 1960s.

While it's not autobiographical, it's certainly based on the Coen brothers' experiences here, said Bob Graf, one of the film's executive producers and a fellow native Minnesotan. Graf was the location manager for "Fargo" and has worked with the Coens since.

Graf said it's important to capture the uniquely Midwest suburbia here.

"It's just plain different," Graf said Friday from New York City, where he's working with the brothers on the film they're now shooting, "Burn After Reading."

Graf and the Coens returned to the Twin Cities this summer to scout neighborhoods and synagogues "and it all came flooding back to them - in exactly the right way," Graf said of the filmmakers.

Although no cast has been announced, Graf said the local talent, which was so important to "Fargo," also played into the decision.

The movie deal marks a "comeback" for Minnesota in major feature films, said Lucinda Winter, executive director of the Minnesota Film and TV Board.

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"We're obviously totally thrilled to have the Coen brothers coming back to Minnesota," Winter said.

But it wasn't a done deal. Wisconsin lobbied hard to get the film shot across the border.

"A Serious Man" could mean big money for Minnesota. A source with Shoot in Minnesota, a film industry group, said the movie is expected to be a $15 million production.

Of that, more than $6 million would be spent in Minnesota - $3.3 million on payroll to employ more than 100 film industry workers, and $2.8 million on other costs, including hotels, restaurants, supplies and car rentals.

Shoot in Minnesota worked to get the 2006 Legislature to reinstate the state-funded "Snowbate" program (scrapped during the 2003 state budget crisis), which reimburses film and video producers for up to 15 percent of their costs.

The 50-day Minnesota shoot is expected to start in April.

The Coens, who haven't released a film since "The Ladykillers" more than three years ago, now have a full slate of filming:

-- "A Serious Man" will be their third movie in a row.

-- Their adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel "No Country for Old Men" was selected for this year's Cannes, Toronto and New York film festivals. It is scheduled to hit theaters in November.

-- The CIA comedy "Burn After Reading," starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Joel's wife, Frances McDormand, is shooting in New York and Washington, D.C. It is scheduled for a 2008 release.

While the brothers often have several scripts in various stages of readiness, one reason for their stacked-up schedule may be that Hollywood is trying to stockpile movies in anticipation of major strikes by the actors' and writers' unions next summer.

One insider who has read the "Serious Man" script refers to it as "funny as hell," and, while it's very early to try to guess how it will turn out, it is worth noting that the last time the Coens shot a movie on their native soil, they won a screenwriting Oscar for "Fargo."

Bill Salisbury and Kathy Berdan contributed to this article.

Chris Hewitt can be reached at chewitt@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5552.

COENS AT A GLANCE

Ethan Coen, left, and brother Joel at September's Toronto International Film Festival, where their "No Country for Old Men" was presented.